The Stono Rebellion
Introduction The Stono Rebellion was one of the largest slave rebellions in the colonies prior to the American Revolution. It occurred on September 9, 1739 in the colony of South Carolina near the Stono River, hence the name of the rebellion. There were around twenty black Carolinians that executed the rebellion. They killed between twenty to twenty-five whites. It was led by an Angolan named Jemmy. Slave rebellions occur because of the oppressive leadership that the whites take on over the slaves. The Stono Rebellion was more than that. It had more to do with religion and the dire need of freedom. On the day of the rebellion, the slaves armed themselves with firearms and ammunition sold at a local shop. The two shop keepers manning the outlet were killed by the slaves. They then walked further and burned the house of a Mr. Godfrey killing him and his children. They marched southward causing more terror and picked up more slaves in their ranks. They were eventually stopped by around twenty to one-hundred armed whites ("The Stono Rebellion." PBS Online). The Stono Rebellion was the result of rising tensions between slaves and their masters; it caused major destruction on account of the slaves and the realization of the whites to limit detachment of slaves with their owners in many ways. Background "Slavery is the unconditional servitude of one individual to another" (Encycl. of Afr. Amer. Cult. and Hist. pg 2060). Opposition to slavery was gaining strength during the eighteenth century. A large contributing factor to this was the destruction caused by slave rebellions. The conditions of slavery in the Americas was "restrictive and harsh" (Ency. of Afr. Amer. Cult. and Hist. ''2065). Only in America did the slave population reproduce itself significantly over the years. The need for slaves was not an issue for the white owners so they did not need to create healthy and accomodating living conditions for them. This was also another large contributing factor to why slaves would rebel. "Slaves did not accept slavery" (Encycl. of Afr. Amer. Cult. and Hist. 2066). Revolts led by slaves were inevitable. Slaves resisted their enslavement naturally because slavery was essentially an unnatural form of life. Rebellion was the largest cause of objection to slavery by the people affected by it. This was definitely true with the Stono Rebellion because it was very destructive, affected many people in the area, and caused for much reform in the slavery system. Causes of Rebellion What exactly brought about rebellion is unclear. A man who is the great-great grandson of Cato, one of the leaders of the rebellion, here recalls the story of the cause of the Stono Rebellion passed down throughout his family, "...nobody ever tell me how 100 slaves between de Combahee and Edisto rivers come to meet in de woods not far from de Stono River on September 9, 1739" (Cato). Not even this man, the distant grandson of one of the leaders of the rebellion, knows how the rebellion ignited. The obvious answer would be for them to gain freedom. Many slaves in that day knew of the freedom proclaimed from other small groups of slaves having fled and made their way from South Carolina to Florida. They had also been known to receive land. The Spanish also had issued a proclamation making it so any slave who deserted to St Augustine would be handled with the same approach, receiving freedom. This definitely influenced the soon to be rebels upon hearing of it. Another reason might have been because of the soon to be enacted Security Act. The act was in response to the whites' fear of an uprising of slaves. It required white men to carry firearms to church on Sunday's just in case of a rebellion. Sunday's usually were a time when whites didn't carry weapons and slaves were permitted to work for themselves ("The Stono Rebellion." ''PBS Online). With this act looming in the minds of slaves, it might have been a reason why they rebelled. The reason why they rebelled on the Sunday of September 9, 1739 was because of the whites hopefully being in church. They felt as though there would be less of them out, and they would in turn be less vulnerable, making it easier for the slaves to patrol down the streets. They also might have instigated the rebellion on this Sunday because of their rememberence of culture from when they lived in Africa. They felt as though the rebellion would be more effective because of their Catholic background back in Africa. They thought that the whites would feel immoral for causing such pain to people of their same religion (Smith 513). The Uprising Early in the morning of that Sunday, around twenty blacks met near the Stono River, around twenty miles southwest of Charleston. When at Stono's Bridge, they proceeded to raid Hutcheson's store. They took guns and powder and killed the two shop keepers manning it at that time. From there, they marched to a Mr. Godfrey's home. There they burned the house killing Godfrey and his children ("The Stono Rebellion." PBS Online). They marched southward in search of freedom. They proceeded with cries of liberty and the beating of drums ("The Stono Rebellion." The Lib. of Con.). They gathered strength in numbers by recruiting more slaves and burning plantations on their way. Their numbers grew to between eighty and a hundred runaway slaves by the end of it; they also killed about twenty whites and burned seven plantations. During their flee, they came across an innkeeper manning Wallace's Tavern. A man who was good and "kind to his slaves" (Taylor). Unusually, they spared this man's life. The six or so white men living in the houses south of Wallace's Tavern were not as lucky. They were all killed. Later, a man named Thomas Rose was hidden by his slaves when the rebels came to his doorstep. They were successful in hiding their master but were forced to join in on the rebellion. By eleven the next morning, the group of runaway slaves had fifty members. They killed all whites they encountered except for one man. Here, an unidentified white official recalls the event, "...marched on with Colours displayed and two Drums beating, pursuing all the white people they met with, and killing Man Woman and Child when they could come up to them" (Unidentified White Official). Lieutenant Governor Bull escaped the rebels and traveled to spread the alarm ("The Stono Rebellion." PBS Online). The Suppression of the Rebellion The rebellious slave's insurgency ended in a large field, just before the Edisto River, late in that Monday afternoon. They had killed between twenty and twenty-five whites and had marched for more than ten miles. Between twenty and one-hundred whites had set out around four in the afternoon in hot pursuit of the slaves. They found the rebels, and when approached, the slaves fired two shots. The whites did not take any chances. They opened fire on them killing fourteen of the slaves. By the end of the day, around thirty slaves had been killed and at least thirty had escaped. Most of the escapees were captured over the next month and then executed. The rest were captured over the six months following the rebellion, excpet for one who remained a fugitive for the following three years ("The Stono Rebellion." PBS Online). Outcome "The Stono uprising represented a significant escalation of black resistance to slavery in South Carolina" (Wax 136). Blacks outnumbered whites in this colony in the early eighteenth century, this was a very widely known fact. Because of the rebellion, people knew that there had to be some sort of change to the proportionality of populations of whites and blacks. Instead of limiting the importation of slaves to the colony, whites thought to grow their own population to balance out the slaves. This would take a long time and obviously wasn't a solution to the problems that came with slavery. In the aftermath of Stono, many insurrections were made to lessen the threat of another rebellion. As Darold Wax puts it, "During the fall of 1739 the wheels of reform were set in motion" (Wax 138). Some farmers after the rebellion left their homes, going with their families to places that were more easily defended. The slaves in the places near Stono were under tight surveilance even during Christmas, a time when they usually would relax and enjoy the holiday. Local officials knew that changes had to be made to the future security and prevention of similar rebellions. These sorts of things had to be addressed in the General Assembly, which did not meet until November 1739. The issue was finallly addressed, and a conclusion was made that the provincial militia would be strengthened and to activate the patrol system for the safety of the residents at Sono from the rebellious slaves. They then went on to amend the Patrol Act, created in 1737. This act greater enforced the patrol laws which called for whites to contribute time to disciplining and overseeing slaves. The assembly also enacted an act that called "for the better ordering and governing of Negroes and other slaves" (Wax 139). This was passed in May, 1740. Another act was passed making slaves under the new law personal chattels. Many old slave provisions were reenacted while numerous new acts were made because of the rebellion. There were even acts petitioned on account of there being a larger slave population than white. The Negro duty law of 1724 reflects this; it was the first attempt by levying higher duties to try to restrict importations of slaves (Wax 136-139). This did not help the problem that much. As Wax puts it, "White Carolinians did not transform thier society in the years after Stono" (Wax 145). These people continued to live in a population dominated by blacks as a populative minority. The slaves in the years after Stono were under new pressures because of the adjusted policy of the slave society. The white Carolinians contined to live their lives with the looming of a huge slave population. As Wax puts it, "Residents of Carolina continued to live, as they had before Stono, with the 'Great Risque' of a slave rebellion" (Wax 145). Conclusion The Stono Rebellion was one of the largest slave rebellions in the colonies prior to the American Revolution. In the midst of it, the rebellion seemed to be becoming successful. These slaves were eventually caught and killed, and they did not make it to Spanish Florida. Although, they did achieve what they wanted in a way. They proclaimed liberty, and with the rebellion having ensued, the slaves inspired other slaves to rise up themselves. Rumored to be because of the Stono Rebellion, other slave conspiracies were brought up in December 1739 and June 1740. Acctually, a third of Charlestown was even burned in November 1740, and it was thought to be the work of rebellious slaves (Wax 138). The Stono Rebellion was very significant in that it was one of the largest slave rebellions before the American Revolution, and it called for the reform of many previously made slave laws and the enacting of some new ones. Sources Cato, George. Personal interview. 1937. Encyclopedia of African American Curlture and History. 2nd ed. 6 vols. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. Smith, Mark M. "Remembering Mary, Shaping Revolt: Reconsidering the Stono Rebellion." Journal of Southern History 67.3 (2001): 513-34. JSTOR. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. "The Stono Rebellion." The Library of Congress. N.p., 8 Dec. 2010. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. "The Stono Rebellion." PBS Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. Taylor, Alan. American Colonies. New York: Penguin Group, 2001. Print. "The Tragedy of Slavery." Demon Dialogue. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. Unidentified White Official. "An Account of the Negro Insurrection in South Carolina." Becoming American: n. pag. National Humanities Center Resource '' ''Toolbox. Web. 5 Dec. 2013. becomingamer/peoples/text4/stonorebellion.pdf>. Wax, Darold D. "'The Great Risque We Run': The Aftermath of Slave Rebellion at Stono, South Carolina, 1739-1745." Journal of Negro History 67.2 (1982): 136-47. JSTOR. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. Xander Gothard